I am so excited to share with you the cover for my latest novel: Gil Marsh. It’ll be for sale in February, 2012. Woot!

Here’s the book blurb:

Gil Marsh is the golden boy of Uruk High School. Smart, athletic, and good-looking, he is popular with his classmates, his teachers, and girls. Then a new kid, Enko Labette, arrives from Montreal. Enko has no trouble keeping up with Gil both on and off the track. Though the competition makes Gil wary at first, the two become inseparable.

Fate is not on their side. Almost as soon as their friendship is cemented, Enko dies, leaving Gil inconsolable. Unable to find comfort in family or friends, Gil secretly heads to Quebec in search of Enko’s grave. The journey north will test his intelligence, strength, and endurance to their limits.

Based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest of written tales, Gil’s contemporary story weaves together a quest to find immortality with Quebec’s landscape and history.

I had a great time at Word Up Day at the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School today.

After a rousing assembly led by Tom (”T-Bone”) Stankus, students split up to a series of workshops led by people who use words in their careers—journalists, writers, illustrators, musicians, lyricists, publishers, etc. After the workshops, the organizers served the presenters a yummy lunch, and we got to admire baked cakes, cookies and other edibles (which we didn’t eat) created by students and inspired by books. The afternoon assembly included skits based on students’ favorite books.

At my workshops, I met dozens of terrific students. I talked about writing and publishing books. I told them that when I was a kid, I was miserable at spelling and was basically a math geek. But I was also a storyteller. Some of these stories were out-and-out lies—which got me in real trouble. But I also told and wrote stories for my family. Eventually, I parlayed my habit of telling stories into writing.

One of the great things about talking to students is that it reminds me of what it was like to be a kid. I was describing how much I love to read, and remembered the day in first grade when I realized I could decode words. I had read “crocodile” and “hippopotamus,” and it felt as if something magical had just happened. It was the beginning of my lifelong fascination with words.

The students asked some good questions, too—like whether it bothered me that I had to revise what I wrote. My answer: not really—truly. No one likes hearing that what they’ve created needs work. But the revisions made what I wrote better, much better. And I am glad that someone took the time to help me improve the stories I created.

There were some other very talented folk a Word Up Day. I was fortunate to spend time at lunch with Leslie Connor, Sarah Darer-Littman, Scott Ingram, and James Benn. And I ran into Lauren Agnelli, although we didn’t get much of a chance to chat.

The day could not have run this smoothly without the time and effort of Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School’s friendly and dedicated staff, and the group of helpful student volunteers. Thank you all!

Over at Write Up Our Alley I blogged about the daunting publishing odds for new writers. My conclusion: don’t give up. You can get your work published, if you persevere. You can read the whole post here.

This evening I’ll be presenting a workshop for writers and illustrators at the Barnes & Noble in North Haven, Connecticut from 7 to 9 p.m. with Donita Aruny from the Shoreline Arts Alliance. We’ll discuss writing and illustrating children’s books and give helpful information about the annual Tassy Walden Awards: New Voices In Children’s Literature.

Drop in and say hello!

I have some very exciting news from Random House. Apparently Come Fall has gone into its second printing.

Squeeee!

Today is the official release date of Come Fall. Happy birthday! You can now order it at your favorite bookstore or online outlet.

I’ll be throwing a book party on Saturday August 28, at The Alphabet Garden Bookstore in Cheshire, Connecticut to celebrate its release. Come join us!

According to Barnes & Noble, Come Fall was written by me and Mr. William Shakespeare.

What can I say? I only collaborate with the best.

I’ve recently updated my website to include resources for writers who are seeking information on how to get their works published. The list is a work in progress, and I’ll be updating it from time to time. You can find the current version here.

For Come Fall. The artist is Tim Jessell. Publication date is July 27, 2010.

Squeee!!!!!

Elizabeth Bluemle wrote an insightful piece for Shelftalker: A Children’s Bookseller’s Blog (for Publisher’s Weekly) asking us Where’s Ramona Quimby, Black and Pretty? She took issue with the publishing canard that white readers aren’t interested in characters of color. She also called on writers, editors, publishers and booksellers to send her titles of modern books with main characters of color where the book isn’t primarily about race. The result was an outpouring of information, which she detailed here. She decided to pull together the suggested books on a Library Thing list.

There are many lists and sources of information on the web, like Cynthia Leitich Smith’s website; The Brown Bookshelf; American Indians in Children’s Literature; Oyate; Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Children’s Literature. But the more shout-outs for books with characters of all colors, the better.

Bravo Elizabeth!

[And thank you to Nicole Tadgell for the links.]